RATING AMERICA'S ENEMIES!

RATING AMERICA'S ENEMIES!

(Gallup poll 2-12/Charles Jylha/Frazer Chronicle)

You know, I never thought about rating our countries enemies, I never figured it was that complicated of a subject.....but now, in this world of instant news, instant weather and pitch by pitch recall of a pitchers pitches to a particular batter, why not a rating system for our enemies, or as George W. Bush put it, "the bad guys."

In a Gallup poll taken during the early part of 2012, 30% of all respondents cited Iran as the biggest threat, with China coming in second at 23% and either North Korea or just plain old Korea coming in 3rd. with a score of 10%.

It was interesting....."At least to me," that 1% listed as a possible enemy of the United States, the United States itself. I thought the figure would be much higher, or not listed at all, at least some out there see a possible link between global war, America, and our attitude.

Iran, China, and Korea/North Korea were the only states to garner double digit votes as America's biggest threats for war. Afghanistan, 7%, Iraq, 5% and Russia and Pakistan with 2% each were the only real threats.....according to the poll. Saudi Arabia and Japan were also listed, but barley with 1% each. It seems as if the "House of the Rising Sun" needs to raise a hell-of-alot more before they can be considered any kind of threat.

Now there is a movement "afoot" to blame Israel for the September 11^th 2001 plane attacks in the twin towers and the Pentagon. Personally I could care less, pointing fingers, at this late stage, "10 years after the fact," seems a bit of a reach. I thought terrorists from Iraq and Afghanistan and the Muslim world were responsible.....now we have to attack somebody else.....wow, what a drag.

Look, the whole attack thing that took all those innocent lives that sunny September morning has left a huge scar on us all. We've been at war ever since.....and it really hasn't done any good. (The war.....I mean.)

Oh sure, we've killed thousands of bad guys, thousands more innocents and thousands of our own fighting men and women. During the same time frame, hundreds of thousands more have been injured, and the continuing care may break several smaller countries with the billions that ultimately need to be spent.

The military and politicians say that "we are safe" through the efforts of our intelligence gathering agencies and our military effort. We have to stay diligent and keep our wallets open (at all times) for future incurrence of expenses.

Some really profound smart guy coined the phrase "the long war" back in the early days of the war against terror. He was right.....the war in Afghanistan is the longest war in the history of the United States. It's a war that we aren't winning, and we can't win.

The Middle East is not our land, we don't belong there, the natural resources aren't ours, the people of the area don't want us there, and they hate us for being there. We are not viewed as the peace keepers, rather baby killers and killers of the innocent.

At this point it doesn't matter who did September 11^th 2001, most of the perpetrators are either dead or in prison, and it doesn't do much good to continue dragging up the past to keep the present going.

People talk about America's military might.....and it is true; America by far is the mightiest country with the biggest and baddest military weapons of all time. With each new military advent, someone, somewhere in the military wants to practice.....wants to use these "toys" to see how well they work, not in war games, but against real, living, breathing and when you hit them, bleeding enemies.

It's the next step in our military evolution, the guns, ships, planes and tanks just have to be tested.....in real combat. I'm sure the "powers that be" are hoping for a few casualties on our side so they can go after the evil bad guys.

We even have the USS New York, built with 24 ton of scrap steel that came from the World Trade Center. Tell me that that's not a rich one, the steel girders, melted down and re-cast as part of a military ship to chase the bad guys. I'm sure it would have made the people who lost their lives feel proud.

Rating our enemies huh, maybe our enemies are the military industrial complex, the people that run the Pentagon and a President who has not kept his campaign promises....."Get us the hell out of war.....and stop making these crazy war machines."

OK MR. SMARTY PANTS!

OK MR. SMARTY PANTS!

(Oakland Press/Frazer Chronicle)

So you think you know it all, you think you've got a handle on things, you think you know your country, and it's safe, just and honest.....right? Well my friend, let me point a few things out to you that.....well, maybe you didn't know.

Did you know that women in the military get raped by their fellow soldiers at an alarming rate and that prosecution of the perpetrators lags at an embarrassing rate? I say "an alarming rate" because to me, one case of rape is way too much.

Oh ya, and by the way, I am not in favor of women serving on the front lines in hot military regions, it makes absolutely no sense to me when we have enough men to do that job. Call me old fashioned, but I come from an era of WAVES and WACS, those good looking women who served their country in the military, but in areas that were safe for them, both from the enemy and the "friendlies."

The United States military is.....and has long been a club for "good old boys," those "Arctic men" from long ago that made war, drank bourbon, smoked their stogies and "took" their occasional woman. It is a mentality grown through centuries of war, plunder, and an ideology of peace through power.

These men, the generals of the world's military, somewhere along the line didn't get the fact that people really, really don't need war to get along, that the economies of the globe really can produce enough "stuff" for us to survive.

The really funny part of the military’s "standard operating procedure" regarding sexual crimes is that all crime reports are to the victim’s boss, or commander, which in many cases is and also can be the perpetrator. If the person goes over her commander's head, it's to her commander’s boss.....and those two men already have a professional relationship.

Sexual misbehavior isn't new in the military, it's been going on for decades, it's been going on ever since women were granted entrance into the military in any capacity. Before women were in the military, soldiers ravaged women wherever they went. It's what they call "rape and pillage."

The mentality of men "having their way" spills over into U.S. government as well.....unless you figure that government has the right to screen a women's uterus with a pre-abortion ultrasound. I for one do not want anybody probing "down there" unless there is consent by the women.

Muslims have long treated their women with utter disrespect, keeping them "down on the farm" as it were. I had a mother; I have 3 sisters, a wife, 2 daughters, and a son. I know from personal experience that behind every good man is a great woman. I know that women can do any job that any man can do.....if a woman chooses to do that job.

Most women accept their roles in the world; the key word is accept, many women know that they could do more, but that their men and their fragile feelings need to be "patted". I say "God bless them all." We need to put women on a high place, because they have the true power.

A LITTLE TRIP TO THE U.P.

A LITTLE TRIP TO THE U.P.

(Frazer Chronicle)

Reflecting is a wonderful thing, everybody does it, and really it's good to do, reflecting kind of clears the head, either shows how lucky you are, or where you need to improve yourself.....to get to that better place where most of us aspire to be.

The "natives" of the Upper Peninsula are basically a good group of hard working people, like most across the country, willing to do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay. However, in the U.P. that usually doesn't happen today. There are a tremendous number of people working in the service industry, servers, cooks, dish washers, gas station attendants and store clerks.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with these jobs, or with the people manning these positions, the pay however, leaves much to be desired, and there absolutely no future in such a position. It is, at this time, the nature of the employment beast in the Upper Peninsula.

I am researching material for a book that I am going to write, and during the course of that research, I was looking up home addresses of some of the people that worked in the mining industry during the first 3 decades of the 20^th Century. I was in awe and shocked to discover the opulence that some of these people lived in during the first part of the century.

Without exception, high iron mine company officials lived better then the "good life," they had maids, house boys and in some cases lived in company provided housing. Many of these houses survive a testament to construction and craftsmanship of the time.

What of the "common" folk of that day, well, many of the houses are still standing, still occupied and are still home to laughing children and working mothers and fathers. Some of the homes have remained in the same family for 2 and 3 generations and, with little exception, the houses remain the same with regards to floor plans.

I met an actual lumberjack in his early 60's who has a 70 something helper; these 2 men hit the woods every morning, 5 days a week and put in 10 to 12 hour days. Everybody does whatever he or she has to, to survive, but geez, a 70 something helper.

There were log haulers, excavators, carpenters and masons, many in their middle 60's, most with no plans or 401 K's for retirement. There are a fringe number of men in their early to middle 60's that lost their jobs when the last underground iron mine close in 1976.

There are also men in their 30's, 40's and 50's who have lost their jobs in the 2 open pit mines that are left in Marquette county as the company continues to down-size. These were good paying jobs complete with a benefit package that will never be replaced.

Downsizing is a 2 pronged attack on workers forged by the company, the move does eliminate unnecessary or duplicate jobs, but it can also corral high paying jobs and lower the scale of pay for those remaining, and it sets future salary procedures and practices.

Although Marquette does show some signs of growth, the 2 sister cities, Negaunee and Ishpeming show little signs of movement on an upward scale. Many buildings in both cities are ramshackle, tumbling down conditioned, ready for the wrecking ball.....and it would be shameful to destroy some of these landmark places.

The Upper Peninsula is a very interesting place to visit, a great place to view the pasts and to mingle with the wonderful people of the area. But there is a touch of sadness, a twinkle of unfulfilled potential in their eyes.

The summer's are spectacular albeit several degrees cooler then I like, and it seems that the waters of the lakes are crystal clear, but way to cold to swim in. History oozes from the entire U.P. as no other place in the entire Mid-West.

The food is great, Swedish and Finnish dishes are delicious and the people are basically friendly, and helpful. Make plans to take a visit.....now that gas prices are a bit easier on the wallet, you won't be disappointed, it's a great place.....but don't plan on swimming in Lake Superior, it's really, really cold.

NOT SO COMMON!

NOT SO COMMON!

(Scott Bauer/Frazer Chronicle)

How common does a recall election happen in the United States? Not very often. For the most part, if we vote the bums into an office, there they stay until their term has run its course. For better or worse, we are usually saddled with the person we elect and put our faith in.

Wisconsin is now embroiled in a rather heated debate and recall of its Republican Governor, Scott Walker, rebelling against his "divide and conquer" mentality. Walker signed his own recall petition when he worked to abolish the collective bargaining regulation between state workers, their unions and state and local employment officials.

Walker's attitude was a "take it or leave it" mentality regarding wage and benefit negotiations with state paid workers, and has spelled trouble since he took that stance. I really can't understand what in hell everybody is so worked up about, for the working class, its business as usual, wanting as many benefits as negotiators will allow.

For state employers, they want as much control and as much latitude as the law allows, and if the law won't allow some of the things they want.....well, change the laws. It's exactly what Scott Walker has done, and is doing.

Will Walker stand up to the ground-swell of opposition to his thinking? I think absolutely so. I don't think the guy has a clue, or a chance. There are hundreds of thousands of state workers in Wisconsin who's paychecks have been dramatically altered by the Walker machine.....and that has pissed a whole bunch of people off.

There have been 2 other governors that have been recalled, or as it should properly be described, "Kicked out of office, or fired from their jobs." Nobody likes to be reprimanded during the course of their duties, or worse, fired from their position, it's messy, it's hard to do and it's down-right expensive, but it has been done.

In the history of the United States, there have been 6 attempts at recalling state governors, North Dakota's Lynn Frazier was successfully recalled as governor in 1921, and California's Gray Davis was kicked out of office in 2003. Both recalls were related to financial problems that cropped up during both men's watches.

People today are more informed then just 8 or 10 years ago, Fox News, M.S.N.B.C., C.N.N and the talk radio hosts make sure of that. The air-waves are chuck full of information; most of the time slanted in one political direction or the other, yet its information.

Watching this story unfold means one thing to my way of thinking, I am watching history right now, and I am keeping an eye on exactly how smart people really are. If Scott Walker retains his office, then people will have forgotten the 16 hour day, the mandatory 6 day work week, the low wages, the no benefits and the brutal atmosphere that existed in Americans work place for decades.

If Scott "Sleepy" Walker retains his office, the rest of his term will see the further decay of the Wisconsin work-place. The divide and conquer mode of operation will put the "fat cats" of Wisconsin right where they want to be, at the workers wallet.....on in total control.

"OH NO, NOT FLORIDA AGAIN"

"OH NO, NOT FLORIDA AGAIN"

(Huffington Post/Frazer Chronicle)

Wee, here we go again, Florida, the sunshine state, the state that has given us the "blue hairs," a place to put our retired family members, a delicious breakfast drink and an occasional shark bite is on the road to possibly deciding another presidential race. Seems as if the Bush-Gore "Chad" question wasn't enough, now Florida might be trying to "purge" people from the voter rolls because they are non U.S. citizens.

Everybody in the United States understands that we have a problem with our boarders and the illegals coming across from Mexico, South America, Canada, China and the terrorist nations of the world. Yes terrorists do cross our boarders, but once they, "terrorists" discover McDonalds, Burger King or Pizza Hut, they quickly decide to drop their explosives for a Big Mac or a double cheese burger and onion rings, the fight just melts away in a greasy, drippy delight of ground-up cow.

Florida is among a small number of mostly southern states that is responsible for creating a law, enacted in 1965 that reinforces voting rights guaranteed in the constitution. Now.....guess who that federal law mostly protects.....people of color and Latinos.

The south just can't get over the fact that the Civil War is over, that the Confederates lost, that blacks now enjoy the same rights as a white man, and that blacks are genetically the same as white people. I know it's a tough pill to take, for some, but it's true.

But wait, Florida Secretary of State, Ken Detzner planned to continue "scrubbing" the election rolls clean of ineligible voters. Now I'm not sure how voter eligibility is established in Florida, but I do know that the state has a harsh history of race relations.

It seems to me, I mean in this day and age, maybe Florida officials might want to tone down any perceived racial profiling, you know.....for the states own good. But oh no, here we go again with another skinny guy politician, Republican Rick Scott.

These people are unbelievable, protecting people from the evils of illegal voters.....even if there not illegal voters. What the hell, they’re black, or talk in a clickety clickety language so they must be foreign, or at least of low mentality.....get out of our state.

A real simple way of solving this problem, voter I.D.'s, it sure as hell would cost the state next to nothing compared to what they are spending at the present time. I personally think every man, women, and child should have a registered number for voting purposes.....now how easy would that be!

AMERICAN GENERALS!

AMERICAN GENERALS!

(Asia Times/Frazer Chronicle)

I get it, I always have.....every country in the world today, and probably yesterday as well, needed an armed force as a deterrent to attack, as a means to keep the peace and to insure our way of life. The military leadership of the United States and countries across the globe walk a tight line that never can be stepped over, otherwise we would have military governmental control, and history has shown us, time after time, a military leadership, in government, never succeeds.

George W. Bush was a war monger, Dick Cheney was a war monger, many in the Bush white house and many connected with the Bush administration were war mongers. Nothing, I repeat, "nothing" good ever comes from war. Sometimes war is necessary, sometimes war is justified, but the facts are not altered.....nothing good ever comes out of war.

Most generals are and always have been overgrown boys who like to dress up in military garb, strut their "stuff" and play soldier and war games. Many are narrow minded men who see little past their collective noses.

They are a rather secretive bunch, with an eye towards knowing more than the enemy, the political process, and for damn sure the people of the United States. Their job, "according to them," is to keep us safe, to protect our way of life, and to secure our shores.

United States military leaders are supposed to work for the Commander in Chief.....that would be President Barack Obama. They are supposed to advise the Commander in Chief with regards to military matters, usually through the Secretary of Defense, but at the end of the day, the president makes the final decision.

I don't necessarily agree with the process, but what the hell, it seems to have worked more or less for the past 200 years and more. There have been presidents that have governed the country with a kind of iron fist, so we need to be aware. The U.S. can't win a war against the entire world and it's obvious that we need to reevaluate our thinking with regards to whether we are truly the "police force" of the world.....to my way of thinking, policing the world is an impossible task, and we are simply fooling ourselves in thinking that we can.

PRE-EMPTIVE STRIKES:

George W. sought to control pretty much the entire world with the threat of military strikes, "shock and awe," and "gee" that didn't work, unless you call a war in Afghanistan that has been going on for 10 years and more a success. Oh ya, Iraq wasn't really a success, and you could talk to anyone on the streets today and they'd tell you so.

I have become aware of things over the past several years, things about my country that I am not proud of, like "U.S." interests, like how we covet other countries natural resources, like how we want to spread "our form of governance," you know.....the free market, and the land of the free and the home of the brave. Poppycock.

The Pentagon has never seen a government that didn't agree with us, with our way of making money, or with our way of life, that they figured shouldn't be taken over.....by us, "for their own good, as well as ours." History books are full of how our government and our military operates with regards to those countries that don't see "eye to eye" with the United States.

Where does this attitude come from, let's put it this way, "not from the peace-nicks" standing on street corners with signs protesting the countries overseas involvement(s). The attitude is bolstered by political groups that figure it's America's way or the highway, by industry that signs multi-billion dollar defense contracts.

And the attitude comes from some of the very generals that are duty bound to answer to the Commander in Chief, the President of the United States.

WHERE WOULD WE BE WITHOUT WAR?

An interesting question, one that many generals don't ask and one that military industry never asks, although a simple enough question. Where would our collective energies go if we didn't have war, if we weren't pre-occupied with some silly war effort that most of us don't feel, that most of us don't think about and that most of us don't pay for.

What about the trillions of dollars that has been spent on war efforts since 1946, what about the hundreds of thousands who have died, the millions disfigured and the almost insurmountable cost incurred by injuries.

I'll tell you, we'd have more and better schools, better roads, more help for the elderly, the poor, the under educated and those suffering illness. There wouldn't be homeless people, crime would be better managed, our borders would be safer and we'd be a more productive country.

Of course we'd have to supply our generals with some sort of toys to play with, some war games to keep them sharp, but we wouldn't need to make war, or look for war because we'd have done away with it, our generals would simply play war.....nobody would die.

CONSCRIPTION, THAT'S THE TICKET:

A military draft that would end almost all wars, I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want my son, or my daughter, or my sister or brother, or my grand kids going off to war. What part of "they shoot at you" don't people understand; why in the world would I want anybody that I know today, to be whisked off to Afghanistan to fight "the enemy."

We have planes, ships, cannon and all other manner of weapon to dispatch whatever enemy we might have in the world today. And the inventors keep coming up with bigger and better weapons to kill our "enemies" with.

I have yet to see a terrorist with a plane, "since 9-11" to fight American superiority in the skies. I have yet to see a terrorists ship bombing any shorelines.....in the world, yet, the U.S. has, and is spending billions of dollars of planes, ships and guns.

Today the U.S. has an all volunteer military, those people that choose to "defend" our country, our freedom and our way of life.....kind of like Superman, "truth, justice and the American way." What a load of crap, mostly the exact reason these young people volunteer is because they think the idea of war is romantic, adventuresome, the "I'll take my chances attitude" that all young people have.

Does anybody take exception at how miss guided that attitude is, at how these young people are being taken advantage of by these "old fart" generals. War is to be avoided at all costs, ask any surviving member of any World War II military outfit, their advice is free for the taking.

Want to stop war.....start a conscription draft, that my faithful readers would spell the end of the madness and the beginning of enlightenment.

THE CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN!

THE CLOTHES MAKE THE MAN!

(Frazer Chronicle)

Nobody ever accused me of "over-dressing," I do own suits, dress shirts and 2 rather spiffy top coats, but why over-dress, I don't dress to impress, never have, never will. That said.....I do understand that some people just can't seem to get past the idea that some professions should be dressed for.

Priests, traffic cops, judges, doctors and I guess American politicians all seem to have some sort of uniform for their particular jobs. Thank God I was pretty much a lowly working stiff most of my life and seldom was required to wear any type of particular clothing.

Oh sure, there were a few times when I was required to wear a stuffy shirt, suit jacket, a tie and dress pants, but that was on rare occasions, and I always protested with some sort of unorthodox underclothing, like miss-matched socks, underwear turned inside out or shredded, and sometimes no underwear at all.

Let's be honest, most of us simply don't trust people with suits, they seem too crafty, or shifty.....you know.....sales people. I equate "suited" people like I do lawyers, car salesmen, or insurance people.....not to be trusted. It's always been that way, you can check the history books, and it’s almost a state law that sales people have to be "suited," as do lawyers. And how far are you going to trust your lawyer, or your car salesperson, "not very far."

Some of the world’s worst dictators in the 20^th century were also "suited," but in completely different regalia. These jokers wore military uniforms complete with what is called "breast lettuce," combat metals, good conduct badges and I'm sure some stuff that really doesn't mean a thing.

The list of 20^th century bad boys reads like rouges gallery, each with several undeniable traits linking them all together.....military uniforms. With few exceptions each man was ruthless and killed hundreds of thousands of his own people.

Now in keeping with my isolationism way of thinking, however many people these dictators killed doesn't really matter to me. Sure it's a tragedy and a waste of human resource and a blight on the human race.....but can a country really step in and mess around with another culture, nobody did that with the United States, even though the black and the red man have suffered terribly at the hand of the white man.

The list of these "boys" who wanted to play "dress-up" is long and is hideous and millions have died or suffered under their military weight. The list is formidable and blood-thirsty, sick in mind and with no heart:

Adolf Hitler

Joseph Stalin

Benito Mussolini

Saddam Hussein

Idi Amin

General Suharto

Pol Pot

Of course there are more, but in my opinion these were the worst.....I added Pol Pot just because I think the name is cool. Who in hell would have the cojones to go by the name "Pol Pot," my hat's off to the guy.....even though he was a crazy S.O.B.

The one thing each of these guys had in common was the fact that they wore military garb and seemed to worship military activity, action and planning. And in most cases, they were the absolute final voice in any military decisions.

Sure there are more of these 20^th century jokers, I mentioned as much, but the really bad ones seem to favor a military uniform. They are the easiest to spot, and therefore the hardest for, at least, "me" to understand. How could people not see right through them, and not pick up on who they are or how they were leading their people?

There they are.....right in front of us, easy to see, and rather easy to understand, yet, for most people, they neither saw, nor understood. Each grew out of political unrest, bad economies and a poor job market....."Uh oh," that's kind of where the United States is today; guess we'd better start watching for those "uniformed darlings" in the media.

So let's see, we either have uniformed, or "suited" people running the governments of the world and according to me neither can be trusted.....wow that isn't very good. Just once I would like to see a completely (casual) guy step up to the political plate and hit a home run.

Of course, as with everything else, after a few of these casual guys, they couldn't be trusted either, they'd fall into the power thing, the money thing, and the position thing.....and they'd start wearing a suit.....or a uniform. Sadly, I guess the clothes do make the man.